*Jenny Proctor was born in Alabama in 1850. She was a slave of the
Proctor family and began her duties about the house when a very young
girl. As soon as she was considered old enough to do field labor she was
driven with the other slaves from early morning until late at night. The
driver was cruel and administered severe beatings at the slightest
provocations. Jenny remained with her owners after the close of the
Civil War, not from choice but because they had been kept in such dense
ignorance they had no knowledge of how to make their own living. After
the death of her master several years later, she and her husband, John
Proctor, came to Texas in a mule drawn covered wagon and settled in Leon
County near the old town of Buffalo. There they worked as share croppers
until the death of her husband. She then came to San Angelo, Texas with
her son, with whom she has made her home for many years.*
Jenny, who was ill at the time she was interviewed, shook her old white
head and said,
"I's hear tell of dem good slave days but I ain't nev'r seen no good
times den. My mother's name was Lisa and when I was a very small chile I
hear dat driver goin' from cabin to cabin as early as 3 o'clock in de
mornin' and when he comes to our cabin he say, 'Lisa, Lisa, git up from
dere and git dat breakfast.' My mother, she was cook and I don't
recollect nothin' 'bout my father. If I had any brothers and sisters I
didn' know it. We had ole ragged huts made out of poles and some of de
cracks chinked up wid mud and moss and some of dem wasn't. We didn' have
no good beds, jes' scaffolds nailed up to de wall out of poles and de
ole ragged beddin' throwed on dem. Dat sho' was hard sleepin' but even
dat feel good to our weary bones after dem long hard days work in de
field. I 'tended to de chillun when I was a little gal and tried to
clean de house jes' like ole miss tells me to. Den soon as I was 10
years ole, ole marster, he say, 'Git dis yere nigger to dat cotton
patch.' I recollects once when I was tryin' to clean de house like ole
miss tell me, I finds a biscuit and I's so hungry I et it, 'cause we
nev'r see sich a thing as a biscuit only some times on Sunday mornin'.
We jes' have co'n braid and syrup and some times fat bacon, but when I
et dat biscuit and she comes in and say, 'Whar dat biscuit?'
"I say, 'Miss, I et it 'cause I's so hungry.' Den she grab dat broom and
start to beatin' me over de head wid it and callin' me low down nigger
and I guess I jes' clean lost my head 'cause I know'd better den to
fight her if I knowed anything 'tall, but I start to fight her and de
driver, he comes in and he grabs me and starts beatin' me wid dat
cat-o'-nine-tails,[1] and he beats me 'til I fall to de floor nearly
dead. He cut my back all to pieces, den dey rubs salt in de cuts for mo'
punishment. Lawd, Lawd, honey! Dem was awful days. When ole marster come
to de house he say, 'What you beat dat nigger like dat for?' And de
driver tells him why, and he say, 'She can't work now for a week, she
pay for several biscuits in dat time.' He sho' was mad and he tell ole
miss she start de whole mess. I still got dem scars on my ole back right
now, jes' like my grandmother have when she die and I's a-carryin' mine
right on to de grave jes' like she did.
[1] A big leather whip, branching into nine tails.
"Our marster, he wouldn' 'low us to go fishing, he say dat too easy on a
nigger and wouldn' 'low us to hunt none either, but some time we slips
off at night and ketch 'possums and when ole marster smells dem 'possums
cookin' way in de night he wraps up in a white sheet and gits in de
chimney corner and scratch on de wall and when de man in de cabin goes
to de door and say, 'Who's dat?' He say, 'It's me, what's ye cookin' in
dere?' and de man say, 'I's cookin' 'possum.' He say, 'Cook him and
bring me de hind quarters and you and de wife and de chillun eat de
rest.' We nev'r had no chance ter git any rabbits 'cept when we was
a-clearin' and grubbin' de new grounds, den we ketch some rabbits and if
dey looks good to de white folks dey takes dem and if dey no good de
niggers git dem. We nev'r had no gardens. Some times de slaves git
vegetables from de white folks' garden and sometimes dey didn'.
"Money? Umph um! We nev'r seen no money. Guess we'd a bought sumpin' to
eat wid it if we ev'r seen any. Fact is, we wouldn' a knowed hardly how
to bought anything, 'cause we didn' know nothin' 'bout goin' to town.
"Dey spinned de cloth what our clothes was made of and we had straight
dresses or slips made of lowel. Sometimes dey dye 'em wid sumac berries
or sweet gum bark and sometimes dey didn'. On Sunday dey make all de
chillun change, and what we wears 'til we gits our clothes washed was
gunny sacks wid holes cut for our head and arms. We didn' have no shoes
'ceptin' some home made moccasins and we didn' have dem 'til we was big
chillun. De little chillun dey goes naked 'til dey was big enough to
work. Dey was soon big enough though, 'cordin' to our marster. We had
red flannel for winter under clothes. Ole miss she say a sick nigger
cost more den de flannel.
"Weddin's? Ugh um! We jes' steps over de broom and we's married. Ha! Ha!
Ha!
"Ole marster he had a good house. De logs was all hewed off smooth like
and de cracks all fixed wid nice chinkin', plum 'spectable lookin' even
to de plank floors, dat was sumpin'. He didn' have no big plantation but
he keeps 'bout 300 slaves in dem little huts wid dirt floors. I thinks
he calls it four farms what he had.
"Sometimes he would sell some of de slaves off of dat big auction block
to de highest bidder when he could git enough fer one.
"When he go to sell a slave he feed dat one good for a few days, den
when he goes to put 'em up on de auction block he takes a meat skin and
greases all 'round dat nigger's mouth and makes 'em look like dey been
eatin' plenty meat and sich like and was good and strong and able to
work. Sometimes he sell de babes from de breas' and den again he sell de
mothers from de babes and de husbands and de wives, and so on. He
wouldn' let 'em holler much when de folks be sold away. He say, 'I have
you whooped if you don't hush.' Dey sho' loved dere six chillun though.
Dey wouldn' want no body buyin' dem.
"We might a done very well if de ole driver hadn' been so mean, but de
least little thing we do he beat us for it, and put big chains 'round
our ankles and make us work wid dem on 'til de blood be cut out all
around our ankles. Some of de marsters have what dey call stockades and
puts dere heads and feet and arms through holes in a big board out in de
hot sun, but our old driver he had a bull pen, dats only thing like a
jail he had. When a slave do anything he didn' like he takes 'em in dat
bull pen and chains 'em down, face up to de sun and leaves 'em dere 'til
dey nearly dies.
"None of us was 'lowed to see a book or try to learn. Dey say we git
smarter den dey was if we learn anything, but we slips around and gits
hold of dat Webster's old blue back speller and we hides it 'til way in
de night and den we lights a little pine torch[2], and studies dat
spellin' book. We learn it too. I can read some now and write a little
too.
[2] Several long splinters of rich pine, of a lasting quality and
making a bright light.
"Dey wasn't no church for de slaves but we goes to de white folks' arbor
on Sunday evenin' and a white man he gits up dere to preach to de
niggers. He say, 'Now I takes my text, which is, nigger obey your
marster and your mistress, 'cause what you git from dem here in dis
world am all you ev'r goin' to git, 'cause you jes' like de hogs and de
other animals, when you dies you ain't no more, after you been throwed
in dat hole.' I guess we believed dat for a while 'cause we didn' have
no way findin' out different. We didn' see no Bibles.
"Sometimes a slave would run away and jes' live wild in de woods but
most times dey ketch'em and beats 'em, den chains 'em down in de sun
'til dey nearly die. De only way any slaves on our farm ev'r goes
anywhere was when de boss sends him to carry some news to another
plantation or when we slips off way in de night. Sometimes after all de
work was done a bunch would have it made up to slip out down to de creek
and dance. We sho' have fun when we do dat, most times on Sat'day night.
"All de Christmas we had was ole marster would kill a hog and give us a
piece of pork. We thought dat was sumpin' and de way Christmas lasted
was 'cordin' to de big sweet gum back log what de slaves would cut and
put in de fireplace. When dat burned out, de Christmas was over. So you
know we all keeps a lookin' de whole year 'round for de biggest sweet
gum we could find. When we jes' couldn' find de sweet gum we git oak,
but it wouldn' last long enough, 'bout three days on average, when we
didn' have to work. Ole marster he sho' pile on dem pine knots, gittin'
dat Christmas over so we could git back to work.
"We had a few little games we play, like Peep Squirrel Peep, You Can't
Catch Me, and sich like. We didn' know nothin' 'bout no New Year's Day
or holidays 'cept Christmas.
"We had some co'n shuckin's sometimes but de white folks gits de fun and
de nigger gits de work. We didn' have no kind of cotton pickin's 'cept
jes' pick our own cotton. I's can hear dem darkies now, goin' to de
cotton patch way 'fore day a singin':
"'Peggy, does you love me now?'
"One ole man he sing:
"'Sat'day night and Sunday too
Young gals on my mind,
Monday mornin' way 'fore day
Ole marster got me gwine.
Chorus: